I gave serious thought to heading back toward Olsen and exiting there. However, I've never been able to completely swim the section from the Peanut restriction to Olsen sink. I know it connects on the map but I've never done it in real life. So I had a decision to make swim back thru what I know, or add to the stress of swimming thru some unknown (to me anyway) passageway. I've almost connected them in real life but for some reason overtime I hit the Peanut restriction something seems to come up that prevents me from connect that last couple of hundred feet. In the end I ended up choosing what I knew. Ultimately, this ended up being the correct decision if for no other reason that it worked. Had I had another hit then that decision might have been a bad one.

You absolutely made the correct decision since you had no way of knowing the line ahead of you was intact. Just because it is the highly traveled Peacock goldline doesn't guarantee the line was not cut or broken by another diver having a problem. Glad it all worked out for you.

Years ago I raced in Ultra-endurance mountain biking races. I mostly competed in these:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/24_hou...ain_bike_races. I raced in the solo category, I rode a mountain bike around a course by myself for 24+ hours. I was decent enough that I could compete against all but the elite teams. At the time I happened to be in college and managed a bike shop so I knew some guys in the industry who knew some guys in the industry who suggested that I submit a resume and write up as to why they should invest in me. Apparently I was pretty convincing in my BS and I happened to convince some folks to take a chance.

I wasn't living it up at this point because everybody starts out at the bottom but I got some help with equipment and some financial help with entry fees and travel expenses. I still worked full time and went to school full time. It was pretty sweet for a few years and right about the time I was starting to make inroads and could have possibly turned this into a paying gig was about the time I was starting to feel a little burned out because all I basically did was work, study, train, and race; in short I had to life. In addition I was starting to feel it in my knees so I had a decision to make.

At the end of my last season of racing I decided that I would make a decision by the end of that year regarding what I wanted to do. I was a little burned out, my knees were giving me fits and it was becoming more and more apparent that I would have to choose between finishing my degree or continue to pursue this crazy lifestyle. It was about this time that I met my wife and decided that it was in my long term interest to focus on my studies. So I moved on to greener pastures.

I still ride a little bit today but it's mostly on the road on my touring bike. I go back and forth about picking up a decent mountain bike but I already have a lot on my plate and don't want to add another hobby. I've never regretted my decision to hang up my spurs and generally look back on the experience fondly but in all honestly I don't really miss it.

Years ago I raced in Ultra-endurance mountain biking races. I mostly competed in these:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/24_hou...ain_bike_races. I raced in the solo category, I rode a mountain bike around a course by myself for 24+ hours. I was decent enough that I could compete against all but the elite teams. At the time I happened to be in college and managed a bike shop so I knew some guys in the industry who knew some guys in the industry who suggested that I submit a resume and write up as to why they should invest in me. Apparently I was pretty convincing in my BS and I happened to convince some folks to take a chance.

I wasn't living it up at this point because everybody starts out at the bottom but I got some help with equipment and some financial help with entry fees and travel expenses. I still worked full time and went to school full time. It was pretty sweet for a few years and right about the time I was starting to make inroads and could have possibly turned this into a paying gig was about the time I was starting to feel a little burned out because all I basically did was work, study, train, and race; in short I had to life. In addition I was starting to feel it in my knees so I had a decision to make.

At the end of my last season of racing I decided that I would make a decision by the end of that year regarding what I wanted to do. I was a little burned out, my knees were giving me fits and it was becoming more and more apparent that I would have to choose between finishing my degree or continue to pursue this crazy lifestyle. It was about this time that I met my wife and decided that it was in my long term interest to focus on my studies. So I moved on to greener pastures.

I still ride a little bit today but it's mostly on the road on my touring bike. I go back and forth about picking up a decent mountain bike but I already have a lot on my plate and don't want to add another hobby. I've never regretted my decision to hang up my spurs and generally look back on the experience fondly but in all honestly I don't really miss it.